Brooklyn Judge Accused of Unseemly Behavior

BROOKLYN (CN) – A Brooklyn judge bragged about his sexual exploits with his mistress, strode shirtless around his chambers before trials, and fired his secretary when she rebuffed his sexual advances, the woman claims in court. Judge David I. Schmidt bragged to his secretary about how he thought of his mistress while having sex with his wife, how he picked out her underwear, and how she would sit across from him with her legs open, Sharon Sabbagh claims in Kings County Court. Sabbagh says Schmidt called her at night to talk about sex. When she objected to the unwanted calls, she says, the judge “indicated to her that she worked for him ’24/7,” and was required to speak to him whenever he wanted.” Sabbagh claims that Schmidt would “stride around his chambers shirtless before unzipping his pants to tuck himself in before reentering the courtroom.” The judge insisted on getting a hug before Sabbagh could leave for the day, and had a “fondness” for touching her face, Sabbagh says, “compelling her to cringe in disgust at the indignity, the personal violation.” When she objected to the judge’s “objectifying behavior,” the judge called her a liar, incompetent and stupid, she says, then ordered her to perform demeaning chores, including having to pick up his “soiled underwear” near his desk. The judge stopped referring to her by name, she says, and his “overt hostility … became so severe, pervasive and recognizable that the court clerk began referring to the morning meetings Justice Schmidt compelled plaintiff to endure as ‘Sharon’s morning beat-down.” He would also snap his fingers at her in a busy courtroom, she says. He made her clean out his car, take his grandchildren shopping, buy his deodorant, go the bank to pay his mortgage and print out his e-mails from an online dating site, she says. A message left with the judge’s chambers Wednesday was not immediately returned. Sabbagh says her complaints to other judges, defendants Lawrence Knipel and Yvonne Lewis, were ignored. She seeks damages for discrimination and retaliation. She is represented by William Sipser with Tuckner, Sipser, Weinstock & Sipser.